Born in Philadelphia in 1890, Man RAY settled in Paris in 1921 to join with the Dada movement. He was a radically experimental artist of genius who won immense critical acclaim for his photographic work. In the 1920s, Man RAY directed four films wich, although they are little known to the general public, mode him a major figure in avant-garde cinema. His film-making was as radical as his pictures and his objects.

According to Man RAY himself, the film was made in haste : a number of experiments (pictures of a fun fair, a nude in motion by Kiki de Montparnasse, a sequence with the Dancer/Danger assembled objects) are "amalgamated" with sequences from the artist’s first attempt and "rayographs", frames exposed to light without a camera and printed with various objects : springs, crystals, pins, salts.

EMAK BAKIA - Cinépoème

(1926 - Silent with musical accompaniment)

"To those who would still question "the reason for this extravagance" one can simply reply by translating the title Emak Bakia, an old Basque expression wich means don’t bother me".- Man RAY - August 1927

The editor of this DVD gave these shorts films never released before -Man RAY mentioned a few of them in Self Portrait (London/Boston, Atlantic-Little, Brown, 1963)- its own titles based on the contents or the "narrative framework", or from Man RAY’s handwritten information on the original cans.

RUE CAMPAGNE-PREMIÈRE(approx 1923 / 1929 - Silent)

Short footage shot rue Campagne-Première where one can catch a glimpse of the artist’s studio bull’s-eye window.

CORRIDA(1929 - Silent)

In his memoirs, Man RAY said he had lent his small 9,5mm camera to Ernest HEMINGWAY who went to Pemplona to shoot his first bull fight. We are unable to confirm or refute that these are the pictures Man RAY reffered to.

AUTOPORTRAIT

OU CE QUI MANQUE A NOUS TOUS(approx 1930 - Silent)

In 1935, Man RAY created a porcelain pipe with a glass bubble called Ce qui manque à nous tous. This is a film version of the same item in wich Man RAY expresses his interest in transparency.